Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4
If Spider-Man 3 was one mess of a movie, it wasn't Sam Raimi’s fault. The director had to introduce Venom in that movie because the studio asked for it (with Venom being such a fan-favorite character). Furthermore, at one point, Raimi did want to continue making Spider-Man flicks (2011 was the year of the fourth installment) "“ but, again, because Sony interfered, he had to drop his plans.
Spider-Man 4 would have seen the return of the same cast, with Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man having to face multiple villains (which would have made sense for a fourth Spider-Man flick, in a way). The Vulture (who will be played this year by Michael Keaton) was going to be the main antagonist and was going to be portrayed by John Malkovich. Anne Hathaway was going to be Black Cat, and Dylan Barker was set to portray Lizard (eventually, the character appeared in the first Amazing Spider-Man flick).
In addition to these villains, Bruce Campbell would have again cameoed as Mysterio. As said, there are quite a few villains here!
Ultimately, after Sam Raimi left, and Mark Webb disappointed (because of studio interference, of course), Marvel made a deal over the character, and the rest was history!
